Definition for Ladies Spring 2014 Issue 001 April 2014 | Page 58

survive?

who
would

by Anastasia Zinchenko

Shhh… ladies… Let me tell you a secret. We are being persecuted! Wherever we go, whatever
we do, there is something that is following us: the ‘thin-model’ image! It is in magazines, on TV,
in advertisements and even in children’s books. We grow up with it. From an early age, we are
exposed to covetable cartoon characters that are more likely to be thin, and later in life we see
skinny actresses and skinny fashion models. To make it simple, the promoted beauty ideal for a
woman is thinness.¹
Sadly, many women in Western society are greatly influenced by the ‘thin-model’ image presented by the media and further enforced by social norms. This image not only lowers selfesteem and results in body dissatisfaction for many of us, it also leads to the development of
eating disorders, especially among adolescents.² Many girls dislike their bodies from an early
age. Alarmingly, 80 percent of ten-year-old American girls have already been on a restricted
diet. Girls with eating disorders consider food to be their worst enemy; a mirror confirmation
for being fat and ugly. Parties and social activities become torturous because of food temptations, and sports are not done for fun but as an obsession to help them lose weight.³ Girls
with eating disorders consider food to be their worst enemy, a mirror confirmation for being
fat and ugly, parties and social activities being torturous because of food temptations, and

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spring | 2014 | definitionforladies.com